Austin Powers in Goldmember

That no one but Mike Meyers could pull off the role of Austin Powers is made amusingly clear in the opening scene, which must be seen to be appreciated. To those who have cringed through one or more of the James Bond films, finding them obnoxiously sexist, chauvinistic and crass, the Powers films are deliciously over-the-top burlesques of that genre, even if some of the gags are relentlessly sophomoric. Scatological humor is pervasive, especially of the soiled underwear, urinating and farting variety. In one of the latter the character adds the comment, "Even stink would say that stinks," and in another case, focusing on a bare behind, we get the tired old yawn, "I always thought you were crazy but now I can see your nuts." Note that is "your" and not "you're," and juvenile puns of that form do tend to blemish the script at times. Even so, most of the pranks are original, and it's a mindlessly fun film to watch. Meyers is a comedic wizard, and he is supported at every turn by an outstanding cast.

After thoroughly enjoying the first two Austin Powers movies, they were daft but enormous fun, I watched this third instalment. I was disappointed admittedly, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The plot takes the whole meaning of daftness to a whole level, so some of it verges on ridiculous, and while Mike Myers is brilliant as Austin and Dr Evil, he overdoes it as the Dutch villain Goldmember and the cameos are very hit and miss. That said, the sets and costumes are still wonderful, the soundtrack is groovy and the script is comedy gold with the cool catchphrases, bad-taste buffoonery and surreal slapstick. In terms of supporting performances Beyonce Knowles is a knockout as sexy and sassy Foxxy Cleopatra and Michael Caine is a dentally-challenged delight as Austin's dad. Seth Green is also fun as Scott Evil. Overall, an inferior sequel, but it was still a lot of fun, with Myers still having his mojo. 7/10 Bethany Cox

The first Austin Powers film was so fresh, zany, charming, witty and unique. It took some time for many people to catch on (hence it's legendary video rental record), but it was dazzlingly, mesmerizingly adorable. The sequel came out and rather tarnished the prior film by either dumping or revising various story elements and especially by taking a turn towards the crude and vulgar. Still, it had it's share of interesting moments and laughs. In this third installment, the goodwill is almost completely gone. What remains is a hopelessly indulgent, often foul and unfunny conglomeration of "jokes" and gags, many based on bodily functions or other off-key subjects. That is not to say that the film doesn't still deliver quite a few laughs. It's just that by now, the whole enterprise seems very worn and familiar. There are several truly funny sequences in the film, but mostly it is saved only by some surprising and "right on" star cameos and the fresh appeal of Knowles. The (typically) ludicrous plot kicks off with Powers having to rescue his father (Caine) from the title character by travelling (too briefly) to 1975. Then the whole parade of series characters is involved in either starting or stopping the world's total destruction. Myers is undeniably brilliant at creating various characters and giving them each a voice of his own. He succeeds in creating these people who seem real unto themselves. Unfortunately, he also is bent on catering to what has to be a 13-year-old boy target audience with endless, endless potty jokes and gross out gags. Some of them are very amusing. Some of them are just gross. After a short while it becomes overkill. Knowles (who is certainly no "actress") comes across as very attractive and surprisingly charismatic on film. Her character is mostly decorative, but she serves the purpose very, VERY well. Her take-no-prisoners attitude is refreshing, even if she is continuously shown being kicked in the face. By now, Myers is so much the whole show that previous supporting cast members (Sterling, Green, Wagner, York) can barely get a word in. Who knows how much of their stuff was cut in the hour-plus of leftover material, but certainly plenty of Myers was left in. It's hard to imagine the lengthier cut because this one seems interminable, even with the bright spots. The opening sequence is brilliant. The character named Dixie......hilarious full name. Other creative and funny bits occur throughout, but the film can not escape it's pall of crudeness and alienating self-indulgence.

Shag-happy superspy Austin Powers is back for the third installment of the spy-spoof franchise . Austin Powers (Mike Myers) travels back to the 70s to find his secret agent dad Nigel (Michael Caine) hook up with love interest . Upon learning that his father has been kidnapped, Austin Powers must travel to 1975 and defeat the aptly named villain Goldmember, who is working with Dr. Evil. Austin teams up with Foxxy Cleopatra (kitchy eye candy Beyoncé Knowles) in order to rescue the world and to foil his look-alike nemesis , Dr Evil . If he were any cooler, he'd still be frozen, baby!. Frozen in the 60's... thawing spring '97, baby!. Debonair. Defiant. Defrosted. On July 26th the Secret Will Be Exposed . He's still evil... He's still deadly... and he's still surrouded by frickin' idiots!. The grooviest movie of the summer has a secret, baby!. What do you call a swinger old enough to be your father? Daddy!. A New Breed of Evil.

Hilarious and non-sense spoof of 60s spy and babe films . A festival of scatological humor, crushed velvet , political incorrectness , bad taste and silliness . Myers revels in playing the fool old-snaggle tooth, and he may step over the line every once in a while , but he gets plenty of mileage out of the one-joke premise . Myers wisely highlights the not-so-good Goldmember , along with other roles , instead of the periodically wearisome Powers . Myers again takes on numerous characters , this time adding a new villain Goldmember , a Disco-clad Dutchman with a gilded prosthetic and a penchant for world domination. Dr Evil is in good form but soft newcomer Goldmember comes up short and Myers is running out of fun ideas . MGM studios raised a stink about the title , too close to James Bond's Goldfinger , but finally saw the light and allowed the parody to continue. The motion picture was regularly directed by Jay Roach and in similar style than previous entries. Rating : 5/10 . Mediocre but it all still works because of Myers 's winking nice nature .

The trilogy is as follows : Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) by Jay Roach with Mike Myers , Elizabeth Hurley, Michael York , Mimi Rogers, Robert Wagner , Seth Green, Fabiana Udenio. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) by Jay Roach with Heather Graham , Michael York , Robert Wagner, Rob Lowe , Seth Green, Mindy Sterling, Verne Troyer, Elizabeth Hurley, Gia Carides. And Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) with Beyoncé Knowles, Seth Green, Michael York , Robert Wagner, Mindy Sterling, Verne Troyer, Michael Caine, Fred Savage .

While the first two Austin Powers films in this comedic series concentrated on spoofing the late '60s/early '70s, James Bond movies and concentrated on female anatomy in the process, this one was centered on penises. I kid you not. (Hence, the title, a play-on-words from "Goldfinger.")

I watched this film twice, within two weeks of each as I showed a friend the second time. The first time I thought it wasn't as funny overall as the other two Powers films and was a bit too raunchy, especially for the PG-13 rating which is ridiculous. After the second viewing, I changed my mind about the comedy (not the rating): it is just as funny if not more than the other two.

A couple of the scenes were hilarious, although very crude in spots but some of the crudeness is what makes it funny. However, most of time I laughed more at the many subtle double entendres and all the double takes by Mike Myers, who plays at least four characters in here...all of them very well.

It's goofy, stupid and nothing spectacular but definitely fast-moving and entertaining. If you've seen the other Austin Powers films, you know what this basically is going to be, humor-wise.

Beyonce Knowles, who played the female lead, didn't have the beauty or body of Heather Graham or Elizabeth Hurley, stars of the other two films, but she isn't bad. There are numerous cameo appearances in here, starting right off the bat with Tom Cruise.

Overall: sick (again) but funny (again.)